“It’s not the technical stuff that worries me. It’s the people.”
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this from IT leaders. They feel confident with the infrastructure, budgeting, project delivery, support, and project management aspects of their jobs. It’s the people stuff that does them in.
It’s not surprising. People are annoyingly complex, creative, and stubborn creatures who continually find ways to do new and interesting things (when you don’t want them to) or resist change (when you want them to change). However, most IT people already have a hidden asset to help them manage people: their understanding of networks.
As IT staffers know, the IT network is the collection of computers, end-user devices, printers, and other peripherals that are used by the company. People also create a network: the human network that IT staffers use to share information, make decisions, solve problems, and come up with new ideas. Many of the rules that govern infrastructure networks also apply to human networks. IT leaders can use what they already know to help solve complex people problems.
A network diagram that depicts the network’s major hardware components is a common tool IT uses to understand network strengths, risks, and opportunities. (Need a quick refresher on IT network diagrams? Check out The Network Diagram.) The network diagram gives IT leaders what they need to visually assess single points of failure, weak links, and failover capabilities. In the example, if the switch goes down, a leader can see that the wireless antenna will still move data through the router. However, the hub is a single point of failure. If it falls, all of the terminals—and the businesses that use them—will go down.
It’s the exact same thing in the human network. Take a look, for example, at this human network diagram using an IT-network lens. Can you find the single point of failure? She’s in the Security department (at 11:00 on the diagram). She’s responsible for almost all of the activity in this network and, if she goes away, traffic decreases by almost 50%. Wise IT people will immediately see the need for redundancy in this system – Security needs a backup immediately to prevent system underperformance when she (inevitably) goes on vacation or gets sick.
Another red flag is the lack of connection between certain departments in this map. IT professionals know that it’s important to be smart about what connects with what in a network. Too many connections can be just as damaging as not enough. In this human network, there are a few worrisome missing links.
For example, there are no connections between the Software Delivery and Operations. So what happens when a customized build is ready to be “thrown over the wall” for baseline maintenance and enhancements? If all goes well, there should be no problem. But, if there is any deviation from the plan—an undocumented bug, a critical and high maintenance client, a new technology used during development—this organization doesn’t have an easy path for solving these problems or transferring expertise from Software Delivery to Operations. From a network perspective, this is a critical missing link. Can you find the other troubling missing link?
These are just two of the ways that IT leaders can use their existing knowledge of the concrete world of IT infrastructure to help manage the complex world of IT staffers a little better. For more on using network knowledge to manage IT talent, check out the article at CIO.com written by Maya Townsend of Partnering Resources and Bob Akerley of EMC.
